"ALWAYS AN ADVENTURE"

One of my most memorable encounters with a desert creatue was when I prospected the Mineral Mountain area east of Apache Junction, Arizona. I spent a few weeks as watchman on a mining claim, where I stayed in a little camp trailer provided by the owner. It had sat idle for quite some time and a packrat had obviously decided to set up housekeeping. Now, packrats are interesting desert critters. Aptly named, they collect and save anything and everything. They are also noted for their tendency to barter and trade items of interest. My first day on the job, I knew a packrat was somewhere, as I spent a good part of the morning picking up silverware that had been strewn around the ground near the camper. When I opened the sillverware drawer, sure enough, it was crammed with cactus beans, twigs, acorns, and various pieces of ribbon and cloth! Late in the evening I would start the generator to freeze water in the fridge to keep my foodsuffs fresh, watch a little TV or read, then...

From the story, Living And Learning From The Desert, Buddy has added some details I left out! Here is his story! I had decided to up-grade our situation a little, and build us an out-house. After all, I did have the material just laying around, a tree saw and a hammer. After a few hours work and no major incidents involving gushing blood or smashed fingers, I stood back to view my work of art. This was a thing of beauty. Solid 2x4 construction, with plywood flooring, and I had gone so far as to buy a padded seat and cover. One day while I was enjoying a cup of coffee, an SUV vehicle pulled up in the wash, and a little old gent jumped out and made a bee-line up the path to our little building. "The nerve of some people, not even the courtesy to ask if they could use the restroom!" I watched with some amuzement as he opened the door and stepped in. Now, give it a few seconds, the door opens, and there's no way to describe the look on this old gent's face, as he waddled...

The total take for the day! After we detected the .6 gram piece of placer gold we used our sluice box in the one day excavation. Videos filmed by our son, Chris. BUDDY.

Using a metal detector can greatly increase your chances of finding placer gold. I use the Fisher Gold Bug with the small coil, which is good for narrow and tight spots with-in the bedrock. You can see in the video, that the coil comes in handy again for reducing your dirt material you grabed from the ground. "ZIP and FLIP" I call it! At the end of this dig, there it is in my palm! It is a .6 gram nugget. This is the first video in our instructional set of Gold Prospecting Videos. Video filmed by our son, Chris who is also helping with the digging! More to come! BUDDY.